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The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

Fang Li/Ming Fan/Lily Gong | 2023 | 123 MINS
China | Some Subtitles
Focus on the Documentary

An enthralling Chinese documentary about the torpedoing of a Japanese freighter carrying 1,816 British PoWs in the second world war, excavating the emotional wreckage on all sides.

In Detail

Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese began their takeover of Hong Kong, at that time under English custody.

Many British soldiers were captured and, as prisoners of war, packed in ships to Japanese labour camps. One such ship was the Lisbon Maru.

The film reveals the long-buried truth of the 1942 sinking where 828 Allied prisoners died.

Over seven years, filmmaker Fang Li's search for the wreckage and interviews with families uncovered the heart-breaking stories of Allied prisoners, Japanese brutality and heroic Chinese fishermen.

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Autumn 2025

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